The Original Darling
by bmo016
Summary: Fluffy one-shot about the baby.


"Alexandra Mikaelson. It really is kind of a mouthful, don't you think?" Hayley asked, smiling down at her cooing daughter, all blue eyes and dirty blonde tuffs of wavy hair.

"I like it," Rebekah replied, "It's strong, and she needs that to make it in this family."

Hayley laughed. She'd given very little thought to baby names and nurseries and motherhood due to the continuing cycle of violence and danger to her life and the baby's since she had come to New Orleans. So when Klaus took the first real interest in their daughter to mention the name to her, it stuck. 'It's a name fitting to the princess of New Orleans,' he'd said, making Hayley roll her eyes and his smirk to deepen. But she had to admit. The little bundle really did look like an Alexandra. The name spoke of power and strength. It fit her. In the few short months since she'd been born, she'd proven that to all of them. First by being born in the middle of her father's war. Then by just surviving. She came out early and there had been complications. They'd managed to save her just in time but it was too close of a call for Hayley. Alexandra hadn't made a sound for several minutes and Hayley shook as she remembered seeing her terror mirrored on Klaus's face, the first time she could ever remember seeing the Original Hybrid himself in fear. Even Elijah, who she depended on more than anyone else in the world to make everything better, seemed at a loss. But Alexandra had made it, and that first piercing scream had nearly shattered every window in the compound, but they didn't care. It was the best sound any of them had ever heard.

And just as the thought crossed Hayley's mind, that same sound cry resounded from her daughter once again.

"Oh come on, Ali, what's wrong?" Hayley asked, rubbing her hands soothingly across her daughter's stomach, "You aren't hungry, you've been changed, you've had a nap. I think I've did my part."

Rebekah grimaced, "What is wrong with her? She sounds like she's being tortured!"

Hayley rolled her eyes, "Babies cry, Rebekah. She probably just needs some attention. She gets that from you."

"Hey, not nice! Here, let me hold her."

Rebekah lifted her niece from her mother's lap and bounced her up and down, talking to her gently and kissing her cheeks. But the baby's cries wouldn't cease, even after several minutes and endless attempts to calm the usually mellow Alexandra from both her mother and aunt.

"She is usually such a peaceful baby. I wonder what's got her so upset?" Hayley paused, looking worriedly at Rebekah, "You don't think she could be like...sick or something, do you?"

"I'm sure she's fine. Nik and Elijah will be back soon and we will get someone to look her at, just in case," Rebekah smiled but her blue eyes glanced nervously down at her niece, who seemed to fidget more and more, her little hands reaching towards the door of the nursery.

The door slammed downstairs, annoucing the arrival of the Original brothers.

"Get someone to look at who?" Klaus asked, stepping into his daughter's nursery and flinching at the sound of her cries, "And what have you both done to her? She sounds like she's being tortured."

"That's what I said," Rebekah replied, though she was not sure her brother could hear her over the shrill shrieks of his daughter.

Alexandra's cries got louder and more insistent as she reached out towards her father, squirming in her aunt's grasp.

"She's been crying like this for awhile and I'm freaking out," Hayley said, "She's never acted this way before."

Elijah followed Klaus into the nursery, studying his niece with curiosity. Her little hands reached toward Klaus with urgency, and the more Rebekah pulled her close the angrier her niece seemed to get.

"Niklaus, take Alexandra from Rebekah."

"Why?"

"Please, brother, humor me."

Klaus nodded and took his daughter from his sister's hands. The screaming ceased as Alexandra's tiny hands curled contently around the collar of his Henley. She whimpered for a few more minutes and then yawned against his shoulder, tucking her little head into the crook of his neck, her own blonde curls matching his exactly.

Elijah chuckled, "It seems her supernatural hearing must exceed yours, Rebekah. Niklaus and I have been outside discussing some pressing matters with Marcel. It appears to me that Alexandra heard her father and was insistent upon his attentions."

"You're telling me that the spoiled little monster just wanted Nik? All that shrieking to get his attention?" Rebekah scoffed, "I don't know if I'm more annoyed or proud."

Hayley rolled her eyes, "You have got to be kidding me. All I went through and she turns into a Daddy's girl? Figures..."

Klaus smiled down at his daughter, "There there, little princess. They are all just jealous. Come. Let's go look at our kingdom."

Alexandra returned his smile, almost as if she knew exactly what he was saying.

"He spoils her. There will be no living with either of them, Elijah!" Rebekah complained, rolling her eyes as her brother strolled from the room with his daughter.

"He is happy. Alexandra is happy. There is a moment of peace in our home, Rebekah. Let it be."

She rolled her eyes and followed her brother out of the room, leaving Hayley and Elijah watching after them.

"It's not bad enough that Ali pops out looking 100% Mikaelson, but she adores him! If she turns into a mini-Klaus I will lose my mind!" Hayley said, shaking her head with a small smile.

"It seems as though she has already inherited a few of his more...charming traits. She's strong-willed and stubborn to say the least," Elijah smiled, "Though I'm not sure that came from only one side of her family."

"Hey! I prefer determined, thank you very much! And I'm glad she's strong. It's the temperamental part that worries me a little."

Elijah sighed, "Yes, it worries me, too. We still don't know everything Alexandra is capable of. She is a darling now but so was Niklaus as a child, so was Rebekah, so was I. Life has a way of taking that part of us away. And if she grows stronger and stronger and loses that part of herself...I don't know what she may do."

"Well, we can't worry about that right now. Let's just enjoy her while we can, ok? The future can worry about itself."

Elijah nodded, watching Hayley head downstairs. He wished he could be more like her sometimes, so focused on the present that the future was nothing more than something to deal with tomorrow. But he wasn't made that way. His family meant more to him than anything else and that included Alexandra now. He, like the rest of his family, was obsessively protective of the child, willing to fight to the last breath for her safety. But how do you keep someone safe from themselves? He'd been trying with Klaus for centuries, and he knew how well that had turned out.

"Elijah, you have that look about you."

He shook his head from his thoughts, turning toward the brother in question, "What look are you speaking of, Niklaus?"

"That look as if the world is on your shoulders."

Elijah sighed. His worries never vanished but the sight of his niece and brother together did wonders to have alleviate some of them. Alexandra really was the spitting image of her father. And it was clear she had him as wrapped as the Original Hybrid could ever be. She had them all wrapped. She was the Darling of the Original Family, and Elijah loved her as unconditionally as any of his family. He would have to learn to take a page from Hayley's book. Love today, worry tomorrow.

"It's nothing, brother. Come. It's almost time for dinner."


End file.
